Some (one) question regarding GOD?

[scottydeewah]

Mostly i am interested as I was watching some of his old games today. 1993 V Salmon, I mean Essendon where he kicked 96.113 off his own boot. Also the 1989 pre-lim where again he kicked more in a game than Kent dreams about at night. My only real question is....when did he become such a NUTTER? The Salmon game in 1993 he was 31. So what age was he when he first started to tear new @rseholes?

 

[della]

He always had magical talents, i remember back in the early 80's in 84 or 85 after only playing a handful of senior games and Ted Whitten was selector or victoria and said to allen jeans that this ablett bloke must play State of Origin, jeans who had failed with Ablett at Hawthorn wasn't convinced but Whitten said i will stand down for good if this ablett bloke isnt the next star, well he kicked 9 goals from a forward flank and the Vics lost by 3pnts.

89 was his obvious breakout year thanks to blighty who laid it down during the pre season that he either become a team man and do all the team things like training etc or ******** off, his 890 season was a gem and his finals perfomrmance esp in the Prem Final which i still regard as his best ever game was someting to behold.

His move in 93 to full forward was also another blight move, ablett was not keen at all to play there but Blight talked him into it and well for the next 3 seasons we saw what he could do, so mnay great memories thats 4 sure esp doing it at such an old age, would of kicked 2000+ goals if he played his whole career there.

I love the man and he made my childhood such a great one, i looked forward to each weekend to watch the great man, the best Ever theres no doubt.

 

[Rosso]

Was 22 I think when he lobbed up at the Cattery and had played senior football since he was 16 in the Ovens & Murray League so he had a fair bit of experience playing against bigger bodies. Impressed at Hawthorn (6 games, 9 goals including 2 in his last game when he was dropped for the finals for Dermie) but was put into the too hard basket, some would say rightly so, and played for Drouin until Billy McMaster convinced him to come to his rightful home.

So at 22 he made an immediate impact and basically began sitting on opposition players shoulders from there on in. I remember Jacko saying that he was sick and tired of playing at Geelong coz he was beginning to feel like a glorified step ladder.

Keep hearing rumours of a possble career highlights tape being considered but nothing ever seems to come of it. Hopefully he & his manager can make it happen sooner rather than later because the things that he was able to do on a football field were unbelievable.

 

[The Hulkster]

. Also the 1989 pre-lim where again he kicked more in a game than Kent dreams about at night.

I got the 89 Prelim on video form Name a Game, classic stuff from the great man.

 

[iameviljez]

I got the 89 Prelim on video form Name a Game, classic stuff from the great man.

The game he played directly after that one wasn't so bad either

 

[linga_is_no1]

Great footballer pity about his depression

 

[Shell]

Anyway, that awesome, fantastic, brilliant Ablett v Salmon game (2 bad we lost it hey, we would have made the finals if we did!), was actually my first ever game of football.. EVA! So needless to say i was a goner after that!

There is of course a video, "93: One Special Season", but it would be great if a whole career highlight package/dvd came out. Since only starting to go to the football in 93, i unfortunately missed most of his career and thus would love to see more earlier footage!

 

[Rosso]

There is of course a video, "93: One Special Season", but it would be great if a whole career highlight package/dvd came out. Since only starting to go to the football in 93, i unfortunately missed most of his career and thus would love to see more earlier footage!

I can recall Big Barry Stoneham saying that there was an Ablett highlight tape of his feats leading up until his first retirement in 1991. I think they watched it as motivation before a game while the great man was in retirement.

Big Barry said that he was one of the first ones to grab a copy of it. Might have to have a word to the newly signed big blokes coach to see if he wants to lend it out to his fellow cats.

 

[Larry Donahue]

I remember so many times, standing on the Moorabool St wing and watching the great man. My mates and I would just turn to each other and shake our heads. We knew we'd never see anything like it again in our lives. Once the ball entered his zone you just knew he'd get it and make his opponent look silly. We were priveleged to follow the team he played on.

 

[Conan Troutman]

There's some of his big goal scoring games listed in the stats here - under the biggest goal scorer against each club (Ablett holds six of the records)
http://home.iprimus.com.au/cmchris/headto.htm

 

[cats56]

Was 22 I think when he lobbed up at the Cattery and had played senior football since he was 16 in the Ovens & Murray League so he had a fair bit of experience playing against bigger bodies. Impressed at Hawthorn (6 games, 9 goals including 2 in his last game when he was dropped for the finals for Dermie) but was put into the too hard basket, some would say rightly so, and played for Drouin until Billy McMaster convinced him to come to his rightful home.

So at 22 he made an immediate impact and basically began sitting on opposition players shoulders from there on in. I remember Jacko saying that he was sick and tired of playing at Geelong coz he was beginning to feel like a glorified step ladder.

Keep hearing rumours of a possble career highlights tape being considered but nothing ever seems to come of it. Hopefully he & his manager can make it happen sooner rather than later because the things that he was able to do on a football field were unbelievable.

Was actually the other way around. Went from Drouin to Hawthorn then to Mytleford and then of course to the Cattery.

Unfortunately couldn't get to his first game in '84 from memory vs. Fitzroy @ K.P. but a mate went and made the statement "best player i've seen pull a boot on for the Cats." How right he was! Played on the wing and also got reported. Pretty fair centreline: Ablett, G.Williams, M.Turner.

Really turned it on from day one. Watching some of the old games on Fox Footy where he kicked a lazy 8 v. Nth. from a h-f-f, taking hanger's on blokes heads etc., amazing stuff. Remember a game i think in about '86 or '87 v. Richmond. Game in balance @ 3/4 time. Ablett moved into centre and kicked five in the last qtr. to see Cat's win easily. If only he was half dedicated on the track he could have been a centreman capable of kicking 70-80 goals a season (maybe more) but with lack of fitness wouldn't have run a game out.

Without a doubt best footballer i've ever seen.

 

[scottydeewah]

hehe I just love hearing people talk about the great man...

 

[catempire]

Agree with all that's been said in this thread. Best player I've ever seen (and will ever see) by a fair margin.

Some Ablett highlights of mine:

1. 89 Finals series. I think he kicked something ridiculous like 32 goals for the series. I was at every match and even though I was only 8 years old I still appreciated it. I distinctly remember the first goal of the GF, as well as I think, one where he grabbed the ball out of the ruck and snapped a goal. I think he also kicked 8 or so in the preliminary. Highlight was a run down the wing and kick at goal (on wrong side for a right footer) from near the boundary on or outside 50 which sailed through.

2. "That mark" v Collingwood. Again, I was there sitting on the wing in the Olympic stand in front of where it happened. A lot of conjecture followed about whether it was a mark but if you watch the replay, the ball was dislodged by the force of his body hitting the ground. Definitely controlled it which means it was a mark. I now have a framed, signed photo of it on my wall.

3. 94 preliminary. They showed this on FoxFooty over summer heaps of times and I just watched it over and over again. Although Mick Martyn had his measure for most of the day, he stuck that one hand out at just the right moment to suck in the pass from Leigh Tudor. Amazing, spine tingling stuff.

 

[Turbocat]

Some say when you watch a great talent that they can make it look easy in their area of expertise. Some do but when I watched Gary , I immediately realised that what he did was beyond not just me but beyond most, if not all. I never called him GOD but he always played like he had GOD on his shoulder.

Champions and great talents in sport and art are like that A film that explores this theme is Aradeus. As I remember it, the film revolves around two composers , Salieri and Mozart. Salieri, religious, pious, man, a man who is a very good composer, a man who is content with the talent.that he believed that God had given him.This is until Mozart arrives in Vienna. When Mozart appears its obvious who has the real talent, Salieri has worked and worked, polished his talent and he is good but Mozart is great, he appears not to need to work because of the talent he has been blessed with. He makes Salieri seem pedestrian by comparison., a labourer compared to a natural. More over , Mozart is not only talented beyond compare he is a fool, a party goer ,a philander a person who appears to squander his talent and not care much of it. As reperented in the film he is the personification of underserved talent, he is represented as person of such low morals and such high natural talents that Salieri questions his relationship with GOD. ‘How could you have given him so much talent and me so little” to paraphrase. In the film, Salieri becomes so obsessed Mozart he eventually conspires to kill him but of course that’s not the end. For , after his death Salieri realizes that he rely hasn’t rid himself of Mozart's because his music endures while Salieri's fades into obscurity.

To me, its not much of a leap to compare Gary to Aramdeus. I can remember a story relayed by Gerard Healy. He was playing in that early State game which as previously mentioned Gary got a gig on the word of Cool Rockin Teddy. He was still so unknown at that time that I can still remember the WA commentators calling him Geoff. I think he kicked 8 and certainly should have one the medal for BOG. Anyway at one stage in the game he took a mark about 55-65M out close to the boundary. Geard Healy screamed to pass the ball but Gary ignored him and continued to line up the shot. Healy thought, “Who the hell doe this guy think he is, you cant even make the distance from there”. Well after it cleared the sticks at goal post height , there was no more a question about who the hell he thought he was. Talent like his could make his fellow players even shake their heads in awe.

Its not really fair to have so much talent.On the rest of them and probably on Gary himself. I can imagine how someone who had to work there A off to make it would question the fairness of it when they watched Gary. Imagine kids everywher playing footy, junior temas everywhere with one or two kids with standout ability. Those kids proceed to the next level. , where yet again one or two standout. By the time most get to the AFL, every player there is playing against a guy who was a standout, most who did it easy now have to work like never before. How talented must you be, to come in and standout without really working that hard. I was there that day Gary played Fitzroy. He Williams and Jacko all debuted for us. Gary was Gary , a standout player on the wing and got reported and got 3 weeks, ahh what start. His whole career from that time on was anything but forgettable.

For the rest of that year I think he took a “Mark of the Year” every week. And every year from then on produced something that has become a pearl in somebodys memory The day he kicked a torp goal from the middle of the G, the day he cleaned up Worsfold, the day he kicked 14 against Richmond and Ess and Swans. Every game there would be something that would amaze you even if it was the only thing he did.

For all the disappointment of being a follower of the hoops, I thank GOD for me being able to see a player that he blessed with such talent. The one drawback I suppose is that all that follow now seem like Salieri, hardworking disciplined toilers. A pale immitation of the real thing